Choose Your City
The first step on a journey to study art in France is to choose the city. Consider all the programs each possible school offers. Paris is highly recommended because of the sheer amount of programs from which to choose and it is the epicenter of France. Americans are accustomed to a country filled with different centers: New York City is the financial center, Washington DC is the governmental center, San Francisco is known for its technology, and Los Angeles for its movie stars. Ancient countries, however, were not designed this way. In ancient countries, like France, there was value in centralizing everything – which is why Paris is simultaneously the center for finance, government, technology, and lots of other things… including art.
Free & Low Priced Museum Admission
When studying abroad, the program or university should issue you a student card. Talk to them ahead of time, because it is important to ensure that your carte d’étudiant shows that you are an art student of some kind. This is because in France, most museums offer free or radically reduced admission to art students – as an example, check out Musée d’Orsay’s policies about free admission.
Take A Studio Class
If at all possible, take an art class in one of the city’s ateliers, which are fine art workshops. This will not only provide the opportunity to learn about your art form of choice from people who have been studying it for perhaps their entire lives, but you will also be interacting with real French people you wouldn’t have met otherwise.
Take An Art History Class
Take an art history class while studying abroad. Requirements are different for each area of study, some require very few hours in art history, or perhaps art history is your major. Whatever the necessary requirement, enroll in one during your international art program. Nothing beats studying Paul Cézanne or Claude Monet or Henri Matisse one day in class, then going to the Louvre and seeing the pieces just discussed in person. Why look at the pages of a textbook when the real thing is down the street!
Paint From The Originals
Even half a century ago, the process of learning to paint, or sketch, or draw did not always occur in a classroom. It occurred in galleries and museums, where students would take up residence in front of an original piece of art, which they painstakingly copied onto the canvas propped up on an easel. This still happens today. Students may be a little surprised the first time they see a painter copying their favorite Monet in the gallery, but as it turns out, most museums allow this, and some ateliers will even take special trips to paint directly from the originals.
Look For Artistic Internship Opportunities
France is an artistic center in Europe so it has a lot of opportunities to get involved in the arts, including internships. Kill two international experiences with one stone and study AND intern in France! Talk with programs advisors and art teachers to scope out any opportunities they may know about, or contact other ateliers and artists directly. Many students find fantastic internship opportunities just through word-of-mouth. For instance, students find positions assisting artists performing tasks like cataloging years worth of photographic prints for an American photographer in Paris. It is always possible to find something that fits each individual’s needs or interests and can be found with just a few well placed questions.
Soak Up the Culture
There are hundreds of art museums in France. There are likely to be dozens of them, as well as independent galleries, in whatever city you choose, even if it’s not Paris. In addition, the TGV (super fast train) system connects all of the largest cities together, meaning that most of France’s museums will not be more than three hours away from any other destination. Take this opportunity to visit every museum possible. Subscribe to their newsletters to learn about the best exhibits. Make a point to visit some of your favorite works of art in person while nearby.
Look for Street Art & Performances
Street artists and performers are literally everywhere in Paris. A simple stroll down the street and students will be surrounded by examples of art, artists at work, and live music. They will appear while riding the metro. Take the opportunity to explore, with eyes open for all the art that could be easily missed.
Visit Montmartre
If Paris is the center of France’s art scene, then Montmartre would have to be the center of Paris’. A huge number of well-known artists lived there at some point in their life, from Claude Monet to Salvador Dali and Vincent van Gogh to Pablo Picasso. Though it’s no longer an inexpensive, Bohemian neighborhood where artists can afford to live, caricaturists and watercolor painters still gather in the Place du Tertre, a few streets downhill from the Sacré Cœur.
Sketch en Plein Air
Follow in the footsteps of generations of artists enamored with the beauty and charm of Paris and other French cities. Take the opportunity to sketch “in the open air.” This venture can be simple – sit alongside the Seine or on the footsteps of the Sacré Cœur with a sketchbook and some pencils. To be more ambitious carry along an easel and other tools of choice. No matter what part of the country you choose for your studies, breathtaking scenery is out there, waiting to be captured by a paint brush, sketch pencil, or lump of clay.